Remote operation system

ABSTRACT

A remote operation system for a moving body, includes: a control device provided on the moving body; and an operation terminal configured to receive input from a user and to communicate with the control device. The moving body includes an external environment sensor that acquires surrounding information of the moving body and a display device. The control device creates a surrounding image including the moving body based on the surrounding information, makes the display device display the surrounding image, and in a case where communication between the control device and the operation terminal is performed, makes the display device display the surrounding image in which at least a part of a communication status display showing a status of communication with the control device is superimposed on an image of the moving body included in the surrounding image.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a remote operation system for a movingbody.

BACKGROUND ART

JP2019-057767A discloses a remote operation method for operating avehicle from outside the vehicle by using an operation terminal such asa smartphone to unpark or park the vehicle. During the execution of theremote operation, the operation terminal captures an image of thevehicle with a camera and acquires the distance between the vehicle andthe operation terminal based on the size of the vehicle in the capturedimage. Then, the operation terminal displays the distance between thevehicle and the operation terminal on a display provided on theoperation terminal. By seeing the display, the user can determinewhether the distance between the user and the vehicle is appropriate forthe remote operation.

The remote operation using the operation terminal may be started inresponse to a start operation provided by the user to the vehicle. Inthis case, following the start operation provided to the vehicle, theuser needs to activate the operation terminal and communicably connectsthe operation terminal with the control device of the vehicle.Therefore, it is desired that the control device prompts the user toperform an operation to activate the operation terminal.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing background, a primary object of the presentinvention is to provide a remote operation system that can prompt theuser to activate an operation terminal.

MEANS TO ACCOMPLISH THE TASK

To achieve the above object, one aspect of the present inventionprovides a remote operation system (1) for a moving body (S),comprising: a control device (15) provided on the moving body; and anoperation terminal (3) configured to receive input from a user and tocommunicate with the control device, wherein the moving body comprisesan external environment sensor (7) that acquires surrounding informationof the moving body and a display device (32), and the control devicecreates a surrounding image (51) including the moving body based on thesurrounding information, makes the display device display thesurrounding image, and in a case where communication between the controldevice and the operation terminal is performed, makes the display devicedisplay the surrounding image in which at least a part of acommunication status display (58) showing a status of communication withthe control device is superimposed on an image (59) of the moving bodyincluded in the surrounding image.

According to this aspect, the remote operation system can prompt theuser to activate the operation terminal. Since the communication statusdisplay is displayed in the surrounding image, the user is less likelyto overlook the communication status display. Also, since thecommunication status display is displayed to be superimposed on theimage of the moving body, the image of the surroundings of the movingbody can be maintained. Therefore, it is easy for the user to recognizethe situation around the moving body.

In the above aspect, preferably, in the surrounding image, an entiretyof the communication status display is displayed to be superimposed onthe image of the moving body.

According to this aspect, the image of the surroundings of the movingbody is maintained in the surrounding image, and therefore, it is easyfor the user to recognize the situation around the moving body.

In the above aspect, preferably, the surrounding image is an imageshowing the moving body and its surroundings as seen from above.

According to this aspect, the user can recognize the moving body and thesituation around it.

In the above aspect, preferably, the communication status displayincludes a display corresponding to “during connection attempt” and adisplay corresponding to “connection completed.”

According to this aspect, the user can recognize the connection statusbetween the operation terminal and the control device by viewing thecommunication status display.

In the above aspect, preferably, when connection with the operationterminal is completed, the control device makes the display devicedisplay a display that prompts the user to exit the moving body togetherwith the surrounding image.

According to this aspect, the user can recognize that the next procedureis to exit the moving body by viewing the display device.

In the above aspect, preferably, the operation terminal has a displayunit and, when connection with the control device is completed, makesthe display unit display a display that prompts the user to exit themoving body.

According to this aspect, the user can recognize that the next procedureis to exit the moving body by viewing the operation terminal.

In the above aspect, preferably, when the control device determines thatthe connection between the control device and the operation terminal iscompleted and the operation terminal has departed from the controldevice, the control device makes the display unit of the operationterminal display an image for operation of the moving body.

According to this aspect, the user can operate the moving body remotelyby using the operation terminal after exiting and departing from themoving body.

In the above aspect, preferably, when the control device determines thatthe connection between the control device and the operation terminal iscompleted and the operation terminal has departed from the controldevice, the control device turns off the display on the display device.

According to this aspect, energy consumption can be suppressed byturning off the display on the display device.

In the above aspect, preferably, the control device determines that theoperation terminal has departed from the control device when the controldevice detects that the connection between the control device and theoperation terminal is completed, thereafter a door of the moving body isopened, thereafter the door is closed, and thereafter the door islocked.

According to this aspect, it is possible to determine that the user hasdeparted from the moving body.

In the above aspect, preferably, the control device acquires a distancebetween the control device and the operation terminal based on astrength of radio wave signal received from the operation terminal anddetermines that the operation terminal has departed from the controldevice when the acquired distance is greater than or equal to aprescribed value.

According to this aspect, it is possible to determine that the user hasdeparted from the moving body.

According to the foregoing configuration, it is possible to a remoteoperation system that can prompt the user to activate an operationterminal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a vehicle provided with aparking assist system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a time chart of an automatic parking process performed by theparking assist system according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3A is a diagram showing a screen display of a touch panel forparking position selection;

FIG. 3B is a diagram showing a screen display of the touch panel forautomatic parking start;

FIG. 3C is a diagram showing a screen display of the touch panel forprompting activation of an application;

FIG. 4A is a diagram showing a screen display of the touch panel forindicating “during connection attempt”;

FIG. 4B is a diagram showing a screen display of the touch panel forindicating “connection completed”;

FIG. 5A is a diagram showing a screen display of an operation terminalindicating “during connection attempt”;

FIG. 5B is a diagram showing a screen display of the operation terminalindicating “connection completed”; and

FIG. 5C is a diagram showing a screen display of the operation terminalshowing an operation screen.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following, an embodiment of the present invention will bedescribed in detail with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the remote operation system 1 operates a moving bodyby a remote operation using an operation terminal 3. Specifically, theremote operation system 1 functions as a parking assist system formoving a vehicle, which serves as the moving body, to a parking space.In the present embodiment, the vehicle is a four-wheel electric car thatcan travel autonomously using a battery.

The remote operation system 1 includes a vehicle system 2 installed inthe vehicle and at least one operation terminal 3. The vehicle system 2includes a powertrain 4, a brake device 5, a steering device 6, anexternal environment sensor 7, a vehicle sensor 8, a communicationdevice 9, a navigation device 10, an operation input member 11, a humanmachine interface (HMI) 14, and a control device 15. The abovecomponents of the vehicle system 2 are connected to each other so thatsignals can be transmitted therebetween via communication means such asa Controller Area Network (CAN).

The powertrain 4 is a device configured to apply a driving force to thevehicle. The powertrain 4 includes a power source and a transmission,for example. The power source includes at least one of an internalcombustion engine, such as a gasoline engine and a diesel engine, and anelectric motor. In the present embodiment, the powertrain 4 includes anautomatic transmission and a shift actuator for changing a shiftposition of the automatic transmission (a shift position of thevehicle). The brake device 5 is a device configured to apply a brakeforce to the vehicle. For example, the brake device 5 includes a brakecaliper configured to press a brake pad against a brake rotor and anelectric cylinder configured to supply an oil pressure to the brakecaliper. The brake device 5 may include an electric parking brake deviceconfigured to restrict rotations of wheels via wire cables. The steeringdevice 6 is a device for changing a steering angle of the wheels. Forexample, the steering device 6 includes a rack-and-pinion mechanismconfigured to steer (turn) the wheels and an electric motor configuredto drive the rack-and-pinion mechanism. The powertrain 4, the brakedevice 5, and the steering device 6 are controlled by the control device15.

The external environment sensor 7 serves as an external environmentinformation acquisition device for detecting electromagnetic waves,sound waves, and the like from the surroundings of the vehicle to detectan object outside the vehicle and to acquire surrounding information ofthe vehicle. The external environment sensor 7 includes sonars 18 andexternal cameras 19. The external environment sensor 7 may furtherinclude a millimeter wave radar and/or a laser lidar. The externalenvironment sensor 7 outputs a detection result to the control device15.

Each sonar 18 consists of a so-called ultrasonic sensor. Each sonar 18emits ultrasonic waves to the surroundings of the vehicle and capturesthe ultrasonic waves reflected by an object around the vehicle therebyto detect a position (distance and direction) of the object. Multiplesonars 18 are provided at each of a rear part and a front part of thevehicle. In the present embodiment, one pair of left and right sonars 18is provided on a rear bumper, one pair of left and right sonars 18 isprovided on a front bumper, one pair of sonars 18 is provided at a frontend portion of the vehicle such that the two sonars 18 forming the pairare provided on left and right side faces of the front end portion ofthe vehicle, and one pair of sonars 18 is provided at a rear end portionof the vehicle such that the two sonars 18 forming the pair are providedon left and right side faces of the rear end portion of the vehicle.That is, the vehicle is provided with eight sonars 18 in total. Thesonars 18 provided on the rear bumper mainly detect positions of objectsbehind the vehicle. The sonars 18 provided on the front bumper mainlydetect positions of objects in front of the vehicle. The sonars 18provided at the left and right side faces of the front end portion ofthe vehicle detect positions of objects on left and right outsides ofthe front end portion of the vehicle, respectively. The sonars 18provided at the left and right side faces of the rear end portion of thevehicle detect positions of objects on left and right outsides of therear end portion of the vehicle, respectively.

The external cameras 19 are devices configured to capture images aroundthe vehicle. Each external camera 19 consists of a digital camera usinga solid imaging element such as a CCD or a CMOS, for example. Theexternal cameras 19 include a front camera for capturing an image infront of the vehicle and a rear camera for capturing an image to therear of the vehicle. The external cameras 19 may include a pair of leftand right side cameras that are provided in the vicinity of the doormirrors of the vehicle to capture images on left and right sides of thevehicle.

The vehicle sensor 8 includes a vehicle speed sensor configured todetect the speed of the vehicle, an acceleration sensor configured todetect the acceleration of the vehicle, a yaw rate sensor configured todetect the angular velocity around a vertical axis of the vehicle, and adirection sensor configured to detect the direction of the vehicle. Thevehicle speed sensor may be constituted of multiple wheel speed sensorsconfigured to detect respective wheel speeds (rotation speeds of therespective wheels), for example. The yaw rate sensor consists of a gyrosensor, for example.

The communication device 9 is a device that mediates wirelesscommunication between the control device 15 and the operation terminal3. The control device 15 communicates with the operation terminal 3carried by the user via the communication device 9 over Bluetooth(registered trademark) which is s near field wireless communicationstandard.

The navigation device 10 is a device configured to obtain a currentposition of the vehicle and provides route guidance to a destination andthe like. The navigation device 10 includes a GPS receiving unit 20 anda map storage unit 21. The GPS receiving unit 20 identifies a position(latitude and longitude) of the vehicle based on a signal received froman artificial satellite (positioning satellite). The map storage unit 21consists of a known storage device such as a flash memory or a harddisk, and stores map information.

The operation input member 11 is provided in a vehicle cabin to receivean input operation performed by the occupant (user) to control thevehicle. The operation input member 11 includes a steering wheel, anaccelerator pedal, a brake pedal (brake input member), and a shift lever(a shift member). The shift lever is configured to receive an operationfor selecting the shift position of the vehicle.

The driving operation sensor 12 detects an operation amount of theoperation input member 11. The driving operation sensor 12 includes asteering angle sensor configured to detect a steering angle of thesteering wheel, a brake sensor configured to detect a pressing amount ofthe brake pedal, and an accelerator sensor configured to detect apressing amount of the accelerator pedal. The driving operation sensor12 outputs a detected operation amount to the control device 15.

The HMI 14 is an input/output device for receiving an input operation bythe occupant and notifying the occupant of various kinds of informationby display and/or voice. The HMI 14 includes, for example, a touch panel32 that includes a display screen such as a liquid crystal display or anorganic EL display and is configured to receive the input operation bythe occupant, a sound generating device 33 such as a buzzer or aspeaker, a parking main switch 34, and a selection input member 35. Theparking main switch 34 receives the input operation by the occupant toexecute selected one of an automatic parking process (autonomous parkingoperation) and an automatic unparking process (autonomous unparkingoperation). The parking main switch 34 is a so-called momentary switchthat is turned on only while a pressing operation (pushing operation) isperformed by the occupant. The selection input member 35 receives aselection operation by the occupant related to selection of theautomatic parking process and the automatic unparking process. Theselection input member 35 may consist of a rotary select switch, whichpreferably requires pressing as the selection operation.

The control device 15 consists of an electronic control unit (ECU) thatincludes a CPU, a nonvolatile memory such as a ROM, a volatile memorysuch as a RAM, and the like. The CPU executes operation processingaccording to a program so that the control device 15 executes varioustypes of vehicle control. The control device 15 may consist of one pieceof hardware, or may consist of a unit including multiple pieces ofhardware. Further, the functions of the control device 15 may be atleast partially executed by hardware such as an LSI, an ASIC, and anFPGA, or may be executed by a combination of software and hardware.

The operation terminal 3 is a wireless terminal that can be carried bythe user, and in the present embodiment, the operation terminal 3 isconstituted of a smartphone. The operation terminal 3 has a prescribedapplication preinstalled therein so that the operation terminal 3 cancommunicate with the control device 15 from outside the vehicle via thecommunication device 9.

The operation terminal 3 is equipped with an input/output unit 38. Theinput/output unit 38 is constituted of a touch panel having a screen.When the operation terminal 3 receives a signal from the control device15, the operation terminal 3 processes the signal and the input/outputunit 38 displays the process result on the screen as appropriate tonotify the user. Also, the input/output unit 38 receives input from theuser by detecting a touch (contact or pressing) of the user on thescreen.

The remote operation system 1 is a system for performing so-calledautomatic parking to autonomously moving the vehicle to a targetposition (a target parking position or a target unparking position)selected by the occupant thereby to park or unpark the vehicle.

The control device 15 executes a so-called remote parking to park thevehicle by controlling the vehicle to move the vehicle to the targetposition according to an operation input to the operation terminal 3. Toperform such control of the vehicle, the control device 15 includes anexternal environment recognizing unit 41, a vehicle position identifyingunit 42, an action plan unit 43, a travel control unit 44, and a storageunit 45.

The external environment recognizing unit 41 recognizes an obstacle (forexample, a parked vehicle or a wall) that is present around the vehiclebased on the detection result of the external environment sensor 7, andthereby obtains information about the obstacle. Further, the externalenvironment recognizing unit 41 analyzes the images captured by theexternal cameras 19 based on a known image analysis method such aspattern matching, and thereby determines whether a wheel stopper or anobstacle is present, and obtains the size of the wheel stopper or theobstacle in a case where the wheel stopper or the obstacle is present.Further, the external environment recognizing unit 41 may compute adistance to the obstacle based on signals from the sonars 18 to obtainthe position of the obstacle.

Also, by the analysis of the detection result of the externalenvironment sensor 7 (more specifically, by the analysis of the imagescaptured by the external cameras 19 based on a known image analysismethod such as pattern matching), the external environment recognizingunit 41 can acquire, for example, a lane on a road delimited by roadsigns and a parking space delimited by white lines and the like providedon a surface of a road, a parking lot, and the like.

Also, the external environment recognizing unit 41 creates a surroundingimage including the vehicle based on the surrounding informationacquired by the external environment sensor 7. The surrounding imageincludes a look-down image or a plan view showing the vehicle and thesurroundings of the vehicle as seen from a viewpoint located above thevehicle and a three-dimensional image (a 3D image or a bird's-eye image)showing at least a part of the vehicle and the surroundings of thevehicle as seen from a viewpoint located obliquely above the vehicle.The external environment recognizing unit 41 executes operationprocessing according to a program and thereby performs a conversionprocess of the images (videos) captured by the multiple external cameras19 so as to generate the surrounding image. The external environmentrecognizing unit 41 preferably creates a look-down image by combiningthe images captured by the front camera, the rear camera, and the leftand right side cameras, for example.

The vehicle position identifying unit 42 identifies the position of thevehicle having the control device 15 installed therein based on thesignal from the GPS receiving unit 20 of the navigation device 10.Further, the vehicle position identifying unit 42 may obtain the vehiclespeed and the yaw rate from the vehicle sensor 8, in addition to thesignal from the GPS receiving unit 20, and identify the position andposture of the vehicle in which the vehicle position identifying unit 42is installed by the so-called inertial navigation.

The travel control unit 44 controls the powertrain 4, the brake device5, and the steering device 6 based on a travel control instruction fromthe action plan unit 43 to make the vehicle travel.

(Parking Assist Process)

After the vehicle is stopped, when the action plan unit 43 detects aninput from the user to the touch panel 32 indicating that the user wantsthe parking assist under remote operation to be performed, the actionplan unit 43 performs a parking assist process. In the following, theparking assist process will be described with reference to the timechart of FIG. 2.

During the execution of the parking assist process, the action plan unit43 makes the touch panel 32 display a parking assist screen 50 (thus,the touch panel 32 functions as a display device). The parking assistscreen 50 includes a surrounding image that contains at least thevehicle. In the present embodiment, the parking assist screen 50includes, in a right half thereof, a look-down image 51 showing thevehicle and the surroundings of the vehicle as seen from a viewpointlocated above the vehicle and, in a left half thereof, athree-dimensional image 52 showing the front portion of the vehicle andthe surroundings in front of the vehicle as seen from a viewpointlocated above a rear portion of the vehicle. Further, the parking assistscreen 50 includes instruction windows 53 above and below thethree-dimensional image 52. In the instruction windows 53, an operationto be performed by the occupant, a current state of the vehicle,cautions, and the like are displayed by text, for example.

The action plan unit 43 first executes an acquisition process to acquireone or more parking spaces. More specifically, the action plan unit 43first displays a notification that instructs the user to move thevehicle straight in the parking assist screen 50 displayed on the touchpanel 32 of the HMI 14. While the user is moving the vehicle straight,the action plan unit 43 acquires, based on the signal from the externalenvironment sensor 7, a position and size of each detected obstacle andpositions of the white lines provided on the road surface. The actionplan unit 43 extracts, based on the acquired position and size of theobstacle and the positions of the white lines, one or more spaces inwhich the vehicle can be parked (namely, parking spaces).

Next, the action plan unit 43 executes a trajectory calculation processto calculate a trajectory of the vehicle from the current position ofthe vehicle to each extracted parking space. Preferably, the action planunit 43 calculates the trajectory for each of the forward parking andthe backward parking so that an input operation from the user to selectthe forward parking or the backward parking can be received.

Next, the action plan unit 43 executes a parking position receptionprocess to receive a parking position selected from the one or moreparking spaces. Specifically, when the action plan unit 43 acquires atleast one parking space, the action plan unit 43 makes one of theinstruction windows 53 of the parking assist screen 50 display anotification instructing the user to stop the vehicle. At this time, theinstruction displayed on the instruction window 53 may be an instructionto stop the vehicle and thereafter to put the shift lever to the parkingposition.

After confirming that the vehicle is stopped, as shown in FIG. 3A, theaction plan unit 43 displays available parking spaces 55 with aselection icon 56 put on one of the parking spaces 55 that is beingselected in the look-down image 51 of the parking assist screen 50displayed on the touch panel 32. Also, the action plan unit 43 displays,in the upper instruction window 53, a notification prompting the user toselect one of the parking spaces 55 in which the vehicle should beparked (the parking space 55 in which the vehicle should be parked isreferred to as the parking position). The user changes the parking space55 on which the selection icon 56 is put by a touch operation on thetouch panel 32 or an operation of the selection input member 35. At thecenter of the look-down image 51, a vehicle image 59 corresponding tothe vehicle is displayed.

When a prescribed time has elapsed from when the instruction promptingselection of the parking position was displayed in the upper instructionwindow 53, the action plan unit 43 displays, in the upper instructionwindow 53, a display prompting the user to decide the parking positionby operating the parking main switch (P switch) 34, as shown in FIG. 3B.The display prompting the selection of the parking position and thedisplay prompting the operation of the parking main switch 34 to decidethe parking position may be displayed simultaneously. When the useroperates the parking main switch 34, the parking space 55 on which theselection icon 56 is put is decided as the parking position, and asignal corresponding to the parking position is output from the touchpanel 32 to the action plan unit 43.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3C, the action plan unit 43 displays, in theupper instruction window 53 of the parking assist screen 50, aninstruction prompting activation of a remote parking application of theoperation terminal 3. Also, the action plan unit 43 may communicate withthe operation terminal 3 to make the input/output unit 38 (touch panel)display the instruction prompting activation of the remote parkingapplication.

When the user activates the remote parking application by operating theinput/output unit 38 of the operation terminal 3, the operation terminal3 and the control device 15 communicate with each other, and the controldevice 15 attempts to make connection with the operation terminal 3. Theconnection attempt includes establishment of stable communication andauthentication of the operation terminal 3. The authentication is aprocess of confirming whether the operation terminal 3 is a legitimateterminal with which the remote operation of the vehicle is authorized tobe performed. When the control device 15 and the operation terminal 3are communicating each other, the action plan unit 43 displays acommunication status display 58 in the look-down image 51 displayed onthe touch panel 32, as shown in FIG. 4A. The communication statusdisplay 58 is an image indicating the communication status between theoperation terminal 3 and the control device 15. In the presentembodiment, the communication status display 58 is a figure resembling asmartphone. Preferably, the communication status display 58 changesdepending on the connection status between the operation terminal 3 andthe control device 15. For example, the communication status display 58preferably includes a display corresponding to “during connectionattempt” and a display corresponding to “connection completed.” Thecommunication status display 58 shown in FIG. 4A is the displaycorresponding to “during connection attempt.”

The communication status display 58 is displayed such that at least apart thereof is superimposed on the vehicle image 59 included in thelook-down image 51. In the present embodiment, in the look-down image 51as the surrounding image, the entirety of the communication statusdisplay 58 is displayed to be superimposed on the vehicle image 59.

While the control device 15 is attempting to make connection with theoperation terminal 3, the action plan unit 43 displays a notificationindicating that the connection status is “during connection attempt” inthe upper instruction window 53 of the parking assist screen 50. Also,as shown in FIG. 5A, the operation terminal 3 may display a notificationthat the connection with the control device 15 of the vehicle is beingattempted on the input/output unit 38.

When stable communication is established between the control device 15and the operation terminal 3 and the authentication of the operationterminal 3 is completed, the communication status display 58 switches tothe display corresponding to “connection completed,” as shown in FIG.4B. In addition, the action plan unit 43 displays, in the upperinstruction window 53 of the parking assist screen 50, a display(message) indicating that the connection is completed and prompting theuser to get out of the vehicle. Also, as shown in FIG. 5B, the operationterminal 3 displays, on the input/output unit 38, a display (message)indicating that the connection is completed and prompting the user toget out of (exit) the vehicle.

When the control device 15 determines that the connection between thecontrol device 15 and the operation terminal 3 is completed and theoperation terminal 3 has departed from the control device 15, thecontrol device 15 may delete the display on the touch panel 32. Thereby,energy consumption by the touch panel 32 can be suppressed. For example,the control device 15 preferably determines that the operation terminal3 has departed from the control device 15 by detecting that theconnection between the control device 15 and the operation terminal 3 iscompleted, thereafter a door of the vehicle is opened, thereafter thedoor is closed, and thereafter the door is locked. The vehicle sensor 8preferably includes a door opening/closing sensor and a door locksensor. Also, the control device 15 may acquire the distance between thecontrol device 15 and the operation terminal 3 based on the strength ofthe radio wave signal received from the operation terminal 3 anddetermine that the operation terminal 3 has departed from the controldevice 15 when the acquired distance is greater than or equal to aprescribed value. Also, the control device 15 may acquire the positionsof the control device 15 and the operation terminal 3 based on the GNSSsignal, acquire the distance between the control device 15 and theoperation terminal 3 from the positions of the control device 15 and theoperation terminal 3, and determine that the operation terminal 3 hasdeparted from the control device 15 when the acquired distance isgreater than or equal to the prescribed value.

When the control device 15 determines that the connection between thecontrol device 15 and the operation terminal 3 is completed and theoperation terminal 3 has departed from the control device 15, thecontrol device 15 makes the input/output unit 38 of the operationterminal 3 display an operation image of the vehicle, as shown in FIG.5C. When the user performs an operation input with the input/output unit38, the operation terminal 3 transmits an operation amount to the actionplan unit 43. The action plan unit 43 moves the vehicle along thetrajectory based on the recognition result of the external environmentrecognizing unit 41 and the received operation amount, thereby toperform a driving process of moving the vehicle to the parking position.Namely, the action plan unit 43 corresponds to the moving body controlunit which performs a driving process of moving the moving body(vehicle) to the target position (parking position). In the presentembodiment, the action plan unit 43 sets the movement amount of thevehicle depending on an amount of swiping on the input/output unit 38 ofthe operation terminal 3.

When the vehicle arrives at the parking position, the action plan unit43 executes a parking process. In the parking process, the action planunit 43 first drives the shift actuator to set the shift position (shiftrange) to a parking position (parking or P range) and stops thepowertrain 4. When the powertrain 4 is stopped, the action plan unit 43transmits a parking completion signal to the operation terminal 3. Whenthe parking completion signal is received by the input/output unit 38,the operation terminal 3 displays a notification that the parking hascompleted on the screen. Namely, the parking position corresponds to theposition where the vehicle is parked, namely, a stop position where thevehicle is to be stopped.

The remote operation system 1 according to the foregoing embodiment canprompt the user to activate the operation terminal 3. Since thecommunication status display 58 is displayed in the look-down image 51,the user is less likely to overlook the communication status display 58.Also, since the communication status display 58 is displayed to besuperimposed on the vehicle image 59, the image of the surroundings ofthe vehicle can be maintained. Therefore, it is easy for the user torecognize the situation around the vehicle. Further, if the entirety ofthe communication status display 58 displayed to be superimposed on thevehicle image 59, it becomes even easier for the user to recognize thesituation around the vehicle.

Since the communication status display 58 includes the displaycorresponding to “during connection attempt” and the displaycorresponding to “connection completed,” the user can recognize theconnection status between the operation terminal 3 and the controldevice 15 by viewing the communication status display 58.

When the connection with the operation terminal 3 is completed, thecontrol device 15 makes the touch panel 32 display a display thatprompts the user to get out of the vehicle, and therefore, the user canrecognize that the next procedure is to get out of the vehicle byviewing the touch panel 32. Also, the user can recognize that the nextprocedure is to get out of the vehicle by viewing the input/output unit38 of the operation terminal 3.

When the control device 15 determines that the connection between thecontrol device 15 and the operation terminal 3 is completed and theoperation terminal 3 has departed from the control device 15, thecontrol device 15 makes the input/output unit 38 (display unit) of theoperation terminal 3 display the operation image 61 of the vehicle(moving body). Thereby, the user can operate the vehicle remotely byusing the operation terminal 3 after getting out of the vehicle anddeparting from the vehicle.

Concrete embodiments of the present invention have been described in theforegoing, but the present invention is not limited to the aboveembodiments and may be modified or altered in various ways. For example,instead of being displayed in the look-down image 51, the communicationstatus display 58 may be displayed to be superimposed on the vehicleimage in the three-dimensional image 52.

1. A remote operation system for a moving body, comprising: a controldevice provided on the moving body; and an operation terminal configuredto receive input from a user and to communicate with the control device,wherein the moving body comprises an external environment sensor thatacquires surrounding information of the moving body and a displaydevice, and the control device creates a surrounding image including themoving body based on the surrounding information, makes the displaydevice display the surrounding image, and in a case where communicationbetween the control device and the operation terminal is performed,makes the display device display the surrounding image in which at leasta part of a communication status display showing a status ofcommunication with the control device is superimposed on an image of themoving body included in the surrounding image.
 2. The remote operationsystem according to claim 1, wherein in the surrounding image, anentirety of the communication status display is displayed to besuperimposed on the image of the moving body.
 3. The remote operationsystem according to claim 1, wherein the surrounding image is an imageshowing the moving body and its surroundings as seen from above.
 4. Theremote operation system according to claim 1, wherein the communicationstatus display includes a display corresponding to “during connectionattempt” and a display corresponding to “connection completed.”
 5. Theremote operation system according to claim 1, wherein when connectionwith the operation terminal is completed, the control device makes thedisplay device display a display that prompts the user to exit themoving body together with the surrounding image.
 6. The remote operationsystem according to claim 1, wherein the operation terminal has adisplay unit and, when connection with the control device is completed,makes the display unit display a display that prompts the user to exitthe moving body.
 7. The remote operation system according to claim 6,wherein when the control device determines that the connection betweenthe control device and the operation terminal is completed and theoperation terminal has departed from the control device, the controldevice makes the display unit of the operation terminal display an imagefor operation of the moving body.
 8. The remote operation systemaccording to claim 6, wherein when the control device determines thatthe connection between the control device and the operation terminal iscompleted and the operation terminal has departed from the controldevice, the control device turns off the display on the display device.9. The remote operation system according to claim 7, wherein the controldevice determines that the operation terminal has departed from thecontrol device when the control device detects that the connectionbetween the control device and the operation terminal is completed,thereafter a door of the moving body is opened, thereafter the door isclosed, and thereafter the door is locked.
 10. The remote operationsystem according to claim 7, wherein the control device acquires adistance between the control device and the operation terminal based ona strength of radio wave signal received from the operation terminal anddetermines that the operation terminal has departed from the controldevice when the acquired distance is greater than or equal to aprescribed value.